International Socialist Resistance

INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST Resistance (ISR) is a new youth organisation which has been initiated by Socialist Party members in England and Wales. Similar youth organisations have been initiated by sister parties of the Socialist Party across Europe.

On 13 and 14 December we will be protesting in Brussels against the war and against capitalism. Then on 15 December we will be coming together to establish an international youth organisation to which the national organisations can affiliate. The conference will discuss and agree a political programme and name. We think that International Socialist Resistance is the best name, for the following reasons:

International

International, because the rule of big business and the capitalist profit system extends across the entire globe, and means increasing exploitation, poverty and oppression.

The 11 September attacks and US President Bush's war on Afghanistan have brought home to young people that a very insecure future lies ahead for us under this system. Our generation has grown up in a world more divided and unjust than ever before.

In Africa, Asia and Latin America, the so-called 'third world', the situation for the overwhelming majority and especially for young people, is unbearable.

The gap between the rich and the poor is obscene. The assets of the three richest people in the world are more than the combined income of all the least developed countries and their 600 million people.

In Britain, as in many other countries of the world, young people of school age suffer from privatisation and cuts in education. A decent education is increasingly made available only to the rich. When leaving school, young people face unemployment or are forced into low paid, dead-end 'McJobs'.

The effects of the market economy globally have also resulted in environmental disaster. Industrial pollution and global warming are escalating. More than eight million people die each year because of polluted air!

Socialist

Socialist, because we need a society based on the needs of humanity, and not on profit. We do not believe that a better, more 'humane', form of capitalism exists. The capitalist system will always be based on greed, profit and the dictatorship of the market.

Regular economic swings from 'boom' to 'bust' are part of the system, bringing unemployment, mass poverty and attacks on what is left of the welfare state. Working within this framework cannot fundamentally alter our lives.

A socialist society would function to satisfy the needs of all human beings and the environment. It means the world's population owning and controlling the wealth they produce, and deciding how society should be run on a day-to-day basis. This would be genuine democracy!

The major corporations, the big finance houses and banks, and our basic utilities (railways, electricity etc) need to be taken out of the hands of the profiteers, and put into public ownership.

Resistance

Resistance, because we will be at the forefront of all the major protests against globalisation and capitalism.

We have already been involved in the demonstrations in Seattle, Prague, Nice, Gothenburg, Genoa etc. against summits of the global capitalist institutions.

The war in Afghanistan has now also brought a new layer of young people onto the streets to demonstrate against the actions of their governments.

Faced with a growing movement against their rule, the rich and powerful are attempting to strike back, using the police and armed forces of the state. Earlier this year, live ammunition was used against protesters in Gothenburg and Genoa.

A number of governments have used the terror attacks in the US as an excuse to rush in harsh legislation against civil and democratic rights. They will also try to use these 'emergency anti-terrorist measures' against the anti-capitalist movement. The movement must put up strong resistance to brutal policing methods and new legislation against civil rights.

And we support further direct action, based on mass mobilisations and democratic decision-making within the movement. We call for the broadest possible campaigns and protests, involving anti-capitalist youth, but drawing in organised workers in the trade unions too.

As well as participating in building the anti-capitalist movement, we will also link up with the day to day struggles in communities, schools and workplaces, against cuts, job losses and privatisation.